How to pass your cloud certifications

A lot of people have asked me recently on the best way to pass some cloud certifications. Why me? Last year I went on a bit of a rampage and got the hat trick of 3 architect expert certifications in the 3 main cloud providers - AWS, Azure and GCP.

Not necessarily because I wanted to be an expert in all three but I did want to expand my knowledge in those areas so I can be a better leader and manager of those that are. I enjoy talking in detail with the team and then coming back out and thinking of the bigger picture.

At no time in the past has the requirement been so strong on the individual to take learning into their own hands if they want to keep up with the latest innovations.

The following are the steps I took to pass in what turned out to be a well tuned process by the end of it.

Step 1: Set yourself a goal date

Let’s face it. We are all busy. There are so many things that are clamouring for our attention. Not forgetting social media who’s sole purpose is to stop your from dedicating your time to getting something useful done. So if you don’t set yourself a goal date, you will be struggling up hill.

So I set myself a goal to pass the all 3 exams in 6 months. And not only that I could have just taken the lower level entry level exams but I figured you are likely to only remember parts of it so the deeper you go, the more info is likely to stick. So expert it was.

Each of those 3 exams are mammoth feats in itself. There are so many services you need to get across plus the exams test some of the minutiae as well so you can’t just go in hoping for the best.

A point to note is that I did have some circumstances at that stage that allowed me to study more than most so maybe you need to temper based on your own circumstances.

Step 2: Select the best online course

There are a plethora of online courses now available for each of the exams. Luckily online learning is so big now that people can make a living off producing high quality material and selling it in the hundreds of thousands. And given the global market, they are great value as well. It wasn’t long ago that you had to go to 5 day in person training courses and pay $3-4,000 a pop. Now, the same quality of course can cost from $10-$150.

Tip: Be on the lookout for promotions - courses that typically cost $150 frequently go on sale for as little as $10. Thanks Udemy. Now that’s 2 cups of coffee for a 20-30 hour course.

I found that each exam tended to have the best courses on different platforms. You need to do some research and find the best fit for you.

What you also need to look for is one course that covers the entire outline of the exam. That ensures you get a consistent approach from one instructor and minimal overlap. Some platforms have a lot of distinct courses delivered by different instructors that they cobble together to something that looks like the content covered by the exam. I would stay away from these.

For my courses, I found the following exam prep courses good:

• Azure AZ-300 - Udemy course by Scott Duffy
• Azure AZ-301 - Plurasight
• AWS Professional Solution Architect - Udemy - check out Stephane Marreck’s courses - in depth and delivered in a French accent
• GCP Architect Expert - Linux Academy

Step 3: Practice exam questions over and over

This is actually the most critical step. It has been proven that the best way to study isn’t just to read, watch video’s, highlight and re-read your notes. If only I had known this at school and University! The best approach is to test your knowledge through active recall.

There are plenty of sample exam questions out there. The ones to look for though are those with detailed explanations about what is the best answer and just importantly why the other answers weren’t correct. They also have links to the documentation pages if you are required to dig into the details more to understand.

A typical set of exam question banks for an exam might consist of 4-5 sets of 80-100 questions. That’s up to 500 questions/answers to test your knowledge. But let’s face it, doing that many questions that takes a lot of time and is pretty monotonous .

My approach was to take the first bank of questions like it was the exam. And then, here is the important point, assume the questions you got right, you have the knowledge and that you are most likely to get right in the exam as well. So just focus on the ones you got wrong. Repeat for a couple of times just focusing on the ones you got wrong and the set should get smaller and smaller each time.

Once you are generally comfortable with the first bank, move to the second bank and start again. Hopefully on your first pass through you will start higher and need to repeat the ones you got wrong less.

Then move onto the 3rd. I typically never made it past the 3rd as I typically start testing my level of sanity around then.

For my courses, I found the following exam question banks good:

• Azure AZ-300 - Measureup - plus you just need to practice some hands on
• Azure AZ-301 - Measureup
• AWS Professional Solution Architect - Tutorial Dojo on Udemy
• GCP Architect Expert - BrainCert

So by now, you have done the base set of video’s and tested your knowledge thoroughly through active recall.

Note: I was tempted and tried an exam dump for an exam but I found them frustrating as you don’t get any explanation, you don’t know the quality of the person who provided the answer so you are constantly second guessing if you disagreed with the provided answer. So I would typically stay away.

Step 4: Schedule and take the exam

My approach here was to schedule it as soon as possible to minimise memory leak and keep my sanity so I didn’t have to go back and revise more.

Luckily most exams have proctored options so you can sit the exam from the comfort of your home and can typically schedule in a day or two. I did have to go into a couple of exam taking centres and to say they are basic is an understatement.

Step 5: Celebrate

Passing an exam is not easy. In a world where procrastination through social media scrolling is the go-to, it takes effort to focus on improving yourself and hopefully advancing your career. So at the very least, give yourself a pat on the back and then move on and find the next thing to focus on.

Summary

Hopefully the above has provided a structure. Passing an exam isn’t that hard, you just need the process defined above and a solid dose of motivation.

Good luck and let me know if you need any support as always happy to talk to people who want to learn and improve.